Along the Road

Waikato Times, Volume 119, Issue 19893, 23 May 1936, Page 17 (Supplement)

Along the Road

An Occasional Column.

(By the Swagger.)

URING THE WEEK 1 saw one or the most beautiful sights of the autumn. I was sitting in the kitchen at the house, after the midday meal. looking out of the Window. There was a strong wind blowing, and it had to force its way between or over the trees that almost surround the house and gar—den. Suddenly from some quarter there was a very strong gust, and it must have come along the ground, for it lifted high into the air a cloud of light leaves that had fallen from the poplars and other trees. Then, somehow. the wind must have spent its force. and the leaves began to flutter hack to earth. Some were golden in colour. some "brown. some still tinted with green and that strange quivering shower of leaves. with the sunlight glinting on the ever~changlng colours as the leaves turned and twirled. made the Olght Ono of lntronolng leluty. it did not last long. of course—a matter of seconds I suppose—but it will be many a long day before l forget it. Some of the little leaves seemed loath to return to earth. They sometimes appeared to lift in the air, and possibly they did. A few heavier ones plunged straight back. I recalled some lines, but where they come trom i do not. know; See how they mill in the last downward journey from the Dough. 'l'o rot within the clay: Hiding uhe horror of the last decay in wanton grace of CM‘EIBSS fllghl. Soon the little lawn at the side was covered with a cloth of brown leaves, for once on the ground most of the colour seemed to 50 It was when one saw them against the light that their real beauty was so wonder—ful. They were at the end of the annual (gs-fie. and their last flight was indeed graceThe little picture had soon passed but the memory 01 it will be mine for a very long time. Things like this tlash u 3- ‘ - pon that mm” ”'9' and add ‘0 the happiness of life. The poets, of course, knew it. and When one

wrote. “ and beauty in the heart breaks like a flower “ he expressed all that 1 have trier] so laboriously to say. Incidentally that line comes from a verse that, to me, is wonder—fully beautiful. The words themselves are music. and it I had to enter one quotation from the works of a British poet that con—stitutes true music I think I would choose that. Then in the sunset glow they went alert, And unbent salts in that most lovely hour When the light gentles and the air is sort, And beauty in the heart breaks like a (lower. The rest of the day was wild and blustery, but all the same. It 'had been a good one because of that picture after dinner. It does not take much to add a touch to the dullest day. One can steer by a single star. be helped 'by a word. made happy by a simple action. Those who think that they must do something big in order to assist; that if they cannot do something that they consider worth while it would be better not to do anything, are wrong. \Vhere do we get this standard of bigness from? As I have often said, the Nazarene taught that the gift of a cup of cold water was something fine. and that costs nothing. Again the poet grasped the truth when he said “All Service Count: the Same With 'God " I have heard people say: "I am glad t.) have been of some small service." They could not know the measure or what they had done. It may have seemed small to them. but to the other party it may have made all the difference in the world. it may have shown that they were not triendtess. and that is something invaluable. A word may spur a tbroken man'to try again. a kind act lead to a chain of acts. that will add to the happiness of many. Indeed, these little things constitute the sweetneSS of life; so add a quote to the happiness, the beauty. of those about you. Just do the kind thing and do not try to reckon either its size or its worth, for the extent or the service is not its standard. and or its real value no one can ever know.